12-14 thousand tonnes cargo backlog in airport cargo terminals across the country

April 8, 2020: Airport operators and cargo terminal operators have urged Customs House Agents (CHAs) and freight forwarders to clear the consignments as soon as possible from cargo terminals which are piling up since the lockdown began. Airports now claim that 12 to 14 thousand tonnes cargo is lying idle in their terminals across the country.

While the air cargo community is asking for an unconditional 100 percent waiver of demurrage charges, the central government has already announced a 50 percent waiver for consignment that could get cleared before April 16.

"95-98 percent of all consignments in our airports are commercial cargo. Freight forwarders must ship only if they could clear it from the airports. If they can't, don't ship, " says Manoj Singh, senior vice president and head cargo, Mumbai International Airport.

He was speaking in a webinar session organised by Indian Transport and Logistics News (itln.in) on critical pharma and the role of air cargo during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tushar Jani, chairman, Cargo Service Center, said "We are in the business of moving cargo. Earning demurrage and storage is not our business but the handling is. At Mumbai CSC we are getting 70-80 trucks a day. We have six docks and, including pharma, we got 350 people coming to work every day."

"I got a call from Wockhardt hospital as that had some vaccine lying in Mumbai airport which was about to expire. We encouraged the CHA to take the delivery. The consignment was cleared in 90 minutes. 62 tonnes of ventilators of Siemens came to Mumbai airport by Lufthansa. It was again moved in 90 minutes, " he continued.